Backpacks For The Street

Backpacks For The Street Bringing compassion and hope to the homeless. Non-profit charity for the homeless. EIN: 83-0663474
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While most of the city was still asleep, volunteer Avery and our Backpacks For The Street outreach team were already on ...
06/17/2026

While most of the city was still asleep, volunteer Avery and our Backpacks For The Street outreach team were already on the road.

Our early morning drive-arounds are about more than delivering supplies. They’re about checking on our unhoused neighbors, making sure they’re safe, seeing what they need, providing food, and letting them know someone cares.

This morning was especially heartbreaking. We found dozens of people sleeping outside with little or no protection from the elements. Many were sleeping directly on concrete sidewalks or on pieces of cardboard.

By the end of the outreach, we had distributed 20 sleeping bags and dozens of blankets to people who otherwise would have spent another night without adequate covering.

For many of us, a bed, a blanket, and a roof are things we rarely think about. For the people we met this morning, those simple things can mean comfort, dignity, and survival.

Thank you to Avery and our dedicated outreach team for showing up, caring, and making a difference one person at a time.

The need remains tremendous, but thanks to your support, we can continue meeting people where they are and providing help when it’s needed most.

❤️

Patricia is going back to work.After years of struggling with homelessness, she’s taking an exciting step toward a brigh...
06/16/2026

Patricia is going back to work.

After years of struggling with homelessness, she’s taking an exciting step toward a brighter future, and all of us at Backpacks For The Street couldn’t be happier for her.

We’ve been working with Patricia for four years. During that time, I’ve come to know her as a sweet, beautiful, kind, and incredibly grateful woman who has faced more challenges than most people can imagine.

As she prepared for this new job, one of the biggest hurdles was finding clothing and accessories in her size. Together, we were able to make sure she had what she needed to walk into this opportunity feeling confident and ready.

There have been moments over the years when Patricia felt hopeless. When life kept knocking her down, I did my best to remind her that she mattered, that she wasn’t alone, and that there was still a future worth fighting for. No matter what, I’ve always tried to look out for her.

Today, that future is starting to come into focus.

Please join me in congratulating Patricia on this incredible milestone. Her determination, resilience, and spirit have carried her to this moment, and I can’t wait to see where this new chapter takes her.

This is why we do what we do. Sometimes changing a life starts with something as simple as believing in someone until they can believe in themselves again.

❤️

A Chance Encounter. A Life Touched.While driving through the city, our volunteer Yacine spotted Vincent, a man in a whee...
06/15/2026

A Chance Encounter. A Life Touched.

While driving through the city, our volunteer Yacine spotted Vincent, a man in a wheelchair who was clearly struggling and in urgent need of help.

We pulled over, stopped to talk, and learned that Vincent had been facing challenges that most of us can hardly imagine. What started as a simple conversation became an opportunity to provide support, dignity, and hope.

At Backpacks For The Street, this is why we do what we do. We don’t just wait for people to find us—we go looking for those who have fallen through the cracks. Every person has a story. Every person matters.

Thank you, Yacine, for taking the time to stop, listen, and remind Vincent that he is not invisible.

Together, we continue to meet people where they are—one conversation, one backpack, and one act of kindness at a time.

❤️

Harlem is 19 years old.For the past three years, he’s been surviving on the streets after being kicked out of his home a...
06/12/2026

Harlem is 19 years old.

For the past three years, he’s been surviving on the streets after being kicked out of his home at just 16 years old. Since then, he’s slept wherever he could find a place to lay his head—doorways, parks, train stations, and anywhere that offered a little shelter from the weather.

Recently, our team at Backpacks For The Street met Harlem and provided him with a sleeping bag, food, hygiene supplies, and other essentials. It wasn’t much, but it was a reminder that someone sees him and someone cares.

Like many young people living on the streets, Harlem has been offered options. He does not want to enter a shelter. He does not want to participate in youth homeless programs. Some people may see that and walk away.

We won’t.

The reality is that there is no cookie-cutter solution to homelessness. Every person’s story is different. Every person’s trauma is different. Every person’s path forward is different.

Harlem has spent years being disappointed, abandoned, and let down. Trust doesn’t magically appear because someone hands you a brochure or gives you a phone number.

So we’re going to keep showing up.

We’re going to keep meeting with Harlem, listening to him, and thinking outside the box to find opportunities and solutions he might actually be willing to try. Progress starts with relationships, and relationships start with trust.

At 19 years old, Harlem should be worrying about his future, not where he’ll sleep tonight.

Nineteen is too young to be forgotten.
Too young to be written off.
Too young to abandon.

Please keep Harlem in your thoughts. And remember that behind every person experiencing homelessness is a human being with a name, a story, and a future worth fighting for.

We haven’t given up on Harlem.

And we won’t.







Life has not been kind to Kenneth lately. After losing his job, Kenneth suffered another devastating loss — his wife pas...
05/28/2026

Life has not been kind to Kenneth lately.

After losing his job, Kenneth suffered another devastating loss — his wife passed away. Since then, he’s been struggling with homelessness while trying to hold onto his sobriety through unimaginable grief and hardship.

Like so many people on the streets, Kenneth has been staying in shelters that often feel anything but safe. He shared how difficult it is to stay sober in an environment filled with drug use, chaos, noise, and unsafe conditions. Imagine trying to heal while surrounded by the very things you’re fighting to escape.

Today, we were able to provide Kenneth with food, a battery pack (Unite To Light), a sleeping bag (The Sleeping Bag Project New York City) , and resources for support — but more importantly, we listened. We saw him. We reminded him that he is not forgotten.

This is only the beginning.

Our Backpacks For The Street team will now be working closely with Kenneth to help him find safer shelter that supports — not jeopardizes — his sobriety. We’ll also help connect him with an outpatient program, grief support, and the services he needs to begin rebuilding his life one step at a time.

Homelessness is not always about poor choices. Sometimes it’s grief. Sometimes it’s loss. Sometimes life breaks someone down faster than they can recover alone.

Please keep Kenneth in your thoughts tonight.

And please remember — compassion can change the direction of someone’s life.





Jim is a Veteran who struggles with PTSD and serious mental health challenges. Today, we found him sitting outside an ab...
05/20/2026

Jim is a Veteran who struggles with PTSD and serious mental health challenges. Today, we found him sitting outside an abandoned storefront — a place he says he once worked at and helped build. He sat there hoping the company would return one day and give him his job back. But the building has clearly been abandoned for a very long time.

Like many Veterans experiencing homelessness, Jim feels forgotten by the country he once served. He spoke openly about feeling overwhelmed, hopeless, and without support.

Veterans facing homelessness are at significantly higher risk for mental health and substance use challenges. For some, mental health struggles contribute to housing instability. For others, the trauma, stress, and uncertainty of homelessness make existing conditions even worse. Without stable housing, even the best mental health treatment can be difficult to maintain.

As a Veteran, Jim carries unique burdens and experiences that many people may never fully understand. But no Veteran should feel abandoned or alone.

Backpacks For The Street is working to support Jim and help connect him with the services, care, and stable housing he urgently needs. We’ve seen firsthand how life can begin to change once Veterans receive consistent support and safe housing. Hope can return. Healing can begin.

One Veteran we previously helped told us:

“When I finally got the help I needed, everything changed. It gave me hope that I could survive, that my life wasn’t over yet. It saved my life.”

Please keep Jim — and all Veterans struggling with homelessness and PTSD — in your thoughts today. Every act of compassion matters.

Address

48 Wall Street
New York, NY
10005

Telephone

+12126522583

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